What Are We Becoming?

Our story this Reformation Sunday morning is about a criminal. Frankly, he’s the type of criminal that is easy to love and hate at the same time. He wasn’t timid or sneaky about his crimes. He was bold. He challenged authority. He was proud of his criminal activity. Like so many criminals of his type, he felt that his crimes were misunderstood by society; what he was doing was really for society’s benefit. Like so many as well, the authorities didn’t see it that way. At first he tried to recruit others to join his work--his cause, if you will. Wherever he went to recruit people, he was turned down. He couldn’t find anyone in his home country, England, it seemed who would join him. Finally, he found some people who, though they couldn’t personally commit the crime, financed him to do it for them. He fled from England to Germany to avoid being caught, but spies from England found him. Like an early James Bond, he fled from one part of Germany to another in order to evade capture. Really, he knew that he would be captured, but he wanted to finish his master plan first. Word of his crimes were becoming famous, and authorities tried furiously to denounce him. Finally, before the last part of his crime could be fully pulled off, the authorities captured him. To no-one’s surprise, he was executed for his crimes, because you can’t openly flout the law and get away with it like he did.

Now, at this point, you’re wondering who the he is and what the crimes were. The he is the gentleman on the front of our bulletins, William Tyndale. What was his crime? It had to have been heinous. He was strangled and burned at the stake. He translated the Bible into English. That’s why he was executed.

Why was that a crime? At that time in history, reading the Bible was reserved for the clergy. The Bible was only available in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Common people weren’t allowed to have it, in case they would interpret it incorrectly. For sure there was a kernel of wisdom in that, but not to this extreme. While the clergy never helped Tyndale, laypeople, desperately desiring the Word of God in their own language, financed his work, helped him evade arrest, and smuggled finished translations into England. Some of them were executed, too. They died so that the English could read the Good News, the Gospel, in English where they lived. That puts a new perspective on the Bible in your hand or on the shelf.

I Am What You Are

Let’s rewind nearly 1,500 years earlier. The apostle Paul is making his rounds in what is modern-day Turkey. He founds the church in Corinth, after he leaves, the people fall apart in more ways than one. People are insisting on their own way while criticizing Paul for the way that he lives. They wanted him to act a certain way, only receiving a living a certain way, keep a certain marital status, all the while insisting that the Gospel protected their way of living. Paul responds that he has rights, too--rights that he could insist upon using, but he doesn’t. He could command a larger salary, a better church, but he doesn’t for their sake. He’s free, too, to live certain ways within the bounds of the Gospel, but he says that’s not how he wants to use that freedom. Here’s how he uses that freedom: to speak to everyone in a way they can understand. Listen to what he says again:

Advance to Scripture slide

19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Fill in point 2

What was Paul becoming? Whatever his listener was, for the sake of Christ. To the Athenians Paul spoke with logic and reason because that's what they understood. to the Jews he spoke of law and of God and of righteousness because that's what they understood. He learned the language of those around him and he spoke it as best as he could. He did not require them to learn his language first--even though he had a pretty robust vocabulary to talk about faith, but he insisted on himself learning their language. No doubt that required effort. There's no doubt in my mind that Paul had to think deeply about how to speak the language of the Gospel to the culture he was in. Yet at every turn Paul tried he learned he listened. He spoke their language as best as possible, so that in some way there was some chance that what he spoke might reach their heart and open their eyes to the wonders of Jesus Christ.

What was William Tyndale becoming? English, for the sake of Christ. William Tyndale made the faith become English. To the English, he became English, so that in that way he might win the English for Christ. And for modeling Paul in his way of trying to reach all he came in contact with, Tyndale paid with his life, just as Paul paid with his. It is the work of every generation to speak the gospel in a language which is intelligible to those around it.

What are we becoming? Once we spoke a Christian language to a Christian culture, but now we speak a Christian language to a non-Christian culture, and the result is that no one knows what we are saying. Again I ask what are we becoming? Will we be able to speak the language of the non-Christian culture, or will we continue to speak unintelligible language to them expecting them to understand our words and to come to us to speak our language? Non-Christians don't care about committees or sessions or presbyteries or synods or general assemblies. They don’t care about elders or deacons. They do not care whether we are decent and in order. They do not care if we grew up in this church or are new believers. They do not care if we came from Good Shepherd or South Park or Broadway or Gloria dei. They do not care if we grew up in the Presbytery of Great Rivers or the Presbytery of Shenango. They do not care if we grew up Presbyterian or Lutheran or Methodist. They do not care about our denominations. Nor do I think they should.

Fill in point 3

Non-Christians do care whether Jesus Christ is really who he says he is. They care about a God who cares deeply about the pain and injustice in our world. They care about a God who weeps when we weep. They care when purpose and hope are spoken into their deepest anxieties. They care when they can let their guard down for a second and find rest for their weary souls. They care about moments of honesty and vulnerability, and the God whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. They care when they see that an encounter with the risen Christ transforms people in powerful ways. If the worst should come to pass, they won't care if we die as separate congregations or die as one congregation. They will, however, care if we die for the sake of Jesus Christ.

13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

What are we becoming?

Becoming Jesus

Advance to “Becoming Jesus: Start fighting”

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says plainly what Christians become: living ambassadors for the living God. We don’t live for ourselves, but we live for the sake of Christ, allowing our actions, our thoughts, and our hearts to be guided by God’s will.

Let me suggest some concrete ways that we can move towards becoming what God has called us in Christ.

Start fighting. No, not the culture around us, but the sinful nature within. That’s where the real battle begins. We are creatures that can be ruled easily by comfort. Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses. He never encountered TiVo. Give someone the ability to skip commercials for a week and then take it away, and you’ll see how quickly we take simple conveniences and turn them into pleasures so desired we get upset when we can’t use them. That’s how it is with our sinful nature; it makes us want to satisfy our own needs on our own time.

Advance to 1 Peter quote

Peter wrote, “Dear friends, I urge you...to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” Fight against the sin which would make you comfortable in who you are. This is the inner voice that says, “I’m not a bad person; I don’t kill or steal or cheat, so I’m okay.” That voice makes us ineffective for Christ. Fight against it.

Advance to “Surrender”

Surrender. If you’ve been fighting that sinful nature, and there are some of you who fight, remember that at the end of the day, the battle isn’t yours.

Advance to Matthew quote

The same Jesus who says take up your cross and follow me says “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Advance to “Step in”

Step in. Step in to the place where God has placed you. If you ever read the end of Paul’s letters, especially Romans, there is a laundry list of people he greets. These are everyday Christians in his world who are being faithful in their homes and businesses and families. They have stepped into their callings as followers of Jesus Christ right where they are, no missionary travel required. Are we being faithful where we are with what we’ve been given? If not, why would we ever expect God to give us more?

Advance to “Step out”

Step out. God certainly calls us to step out in faith at times, whether that’s a mental stepping out or a physical stepping out. When God is calling you, take the step of faith to be a faithful ambassador. Paul and Tyndale both new that stepping out for Christ could very well cost them their lives. They did it anyway. Perhaps the photos stirred you. Perhaps God has been working on you for some time to step out in some specific way. Listen, discern, and then go. Christ has promised to be with you at every step of the way.

Advance to “Stay together”

Stay together. None of what I have said is meant to be tackled alone. From the very beginning of Scripture, God’s people have been exactly that. People. Not a person. I realize that it can be terribly awkward at times when we fail, make mistakes, or hurt one another, but I assure you that very little growth occurs without other people around. Not many make it out of kindergarten on their own. No one grows in Christ without others around.

Advance to Hebrews 10:24-25

The writer of Hebrews says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Keep those around you who will remind you both of your calling in Christ and what you need to do to live into your calling in Christ.

Advance to final slide “What are we becoming?”

Only one question remains from all of this: what are we becoming? Let us pray that it is better and better reflections

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